Todd Bowles Declares Quarterback Race “Tight”
August 4th, 2023
Slight edge?
Joe has long maintained that for Kyle Trask to start, he must practice/play worthless preseason games so well that the Bucs can’t take him off the field.
Knowing how much Bowles likes Mayfield, and that Bowles needs wins to save his career — Joe is sure Bowles doesn’t give two spits about 2024 or beyond. So he will go with the experienced quarterback.
Is Trask practicing at a higher level than Mayfield? Probably. Yeah, currently.
Bowles said this week that the most important trait for a quarterback is not to commit a turnover. After Joe washed the barf out of his mouth, Joe remembered Trask, as of yesterday, has gone four straight practices without a pick. Mayfield cannot make that claim.
So yesterday, perhaps to keep Mayfield’s chin up, Bowles admitted the race is “tight.”
The Bucs play their first worthless preseason game a week from tonight. It should be interesting to see who takes the first snap.
August 4th, 2023 at 4:06 am
My money is on Baker being Baker and imploding under pressure. Trask will be cool like the other side of the pillow.
August 4th, 2023 at 4:28 am
‘Joe has long maintained that for Kyle Trask to start over Baker Mayfield, Trask has to practice/play worthless preseason games so well that the Bucs can’t take him off the field.’
You make it sound here Joe like what we have here is a 6’5″ 236 lb ‘David’ versus a 6′ 215 lb’ Goliath’. Not hardly. This just happens to be the first time that Kyle Trask has been given a REAL opportunity to compete for the starting QB role. Kyle has done quite well historically when given a fair chance to compete for the starter’s job. You’re just now seeing what’s inside.
August 4th, 2023 at 5:05 am
Far from worthless it might decide the QB comp
August 4th, 2023 at 5:12 am
Neither will be the starter in 2024
August 4th, 2023 at 5:22 am
Bowles needs wins so he’ll go with Baker? Yeah, because Mayfield is such a winner!
August 4th, 2023 at 5:34 am
Really wonder why Steelers fan is even commenting…. Who’s your QB btw? Just curious
August 4th, 2023 at 5:41 am
Re: @Da Bucs Fan – “Neither will be the starter in 2024”
BOOOOOO!!… May be right but still, BOOOOOO!!
Haha
Thinking this way removes the fun and hope from the 2023 season before it even starts. That’s no fun.
August 4th, 2023 at 5:48 am
I’m scared to tell the Joes about their GM skills, since the last time I did caused one to them to say “You must be hitting the bourbon early”, because I hit them with the signing Claybourne to a team friendly deal was stupid.
August 4th, 2023 at 5:49 am
Hardly “worthless” games this year, huh? And who takes the first snap is irrelevant. Cmon man, you’re at the practices. Going strictly by what you’ve seen this off-season who do you think will move the offense with more efficiency?
August 4th, 2023 at 5:52 am
Tight?
Geez come on man!
Go Bucs!
August 4th, 2023 at 6:30 am
“worthless preseason games ” Joe……? Just stop.
I’m guilty of just assuming the job would be handed to Mayfield due to his experience and yes – draft status. However at the end of the day, or in this case, at the beginning of the season, as any Bucs fan would,…I want the best QB lining up behind Ryan Jensens sweaty behind. No matter who.
August 4th, 2023 at 6:44 am
Lets be real. Next year we won’t be able to resign Baker anyway. Might as well let Trask have it to get the extra practice if it’s a tight race. However that is a good point Bowles may be only looking at this year.
August 4th, 2023 at 7:08 am
Saying the race is “tight” is just the politically correct thing to say; you still want Rudy Mayfield to continue to compete as best as he can…
Based on Joe’s notes and everything I’ve been hearing, Baker is imploding under the pressure…Like I said in another post, the concerning thing for me is all of the batted down passes and ints…Ints got “America’s Quarterback” banished form Tampa, so I highly doubt Todd is willing to risk his job going with Baker who has some Jameis type tendencies; I’m sure he thought he was going to walk into Tampa and have the QB job gift wrapped and placed in his lap…Only problem for Mayfield is KT didn’t get the memo…
August 4th, 2023 at 7:26 am
Turn the offense over to Trask, he gets first team reps. If we start 0 & 4 Mayfield gets a chance to redeem his career. If Trask is the real deal (which I think he is) we win and Baker and his agent find the best backup role in the league going forward.
Make the decision early, so everyone’s timing syncs up before game 1.
August 4th, 2023 at 7:29 am
No chance Todd starts trask to start the season but just wait both QBs will play
August 4th, 2023 at 7:30 am
I would argue that going with Mayfield over Trask has the potential to make the seat under Bowles much hotter if the season doesn’t go well. With Trask, at least he’s developing. With Mayfield, there is a strong history of middling play.
August 4th, 2023 at 7:31 am
“This just happens to be the first time that Kyle Trask has been given a REAL opportunity to compete for the starting QB role.”
As Joe has mentioned, Trask wasn’t remotely ready the prior two seasons. Whatever his off-season regimen was, it’s turned him around 180 degrees, I’m excited
August 4th, 2023 at 7:35 am
If it’s even close to equal now, you’ve got to start Trask, because there is room for further improvement. Mayfield is who he is, he’s not going to get much better.
August 4th, 2023 at 7:39 am
Joe, how are these preseason games worthless if it’s going to ultimately determine the starting QB?
August 4th, 2023 at 7:47 am
What NCBucfan said. Joe, I think more than a few of us took you to task yesterday about “worthless preseason games”.
August 4th, 2023 at 7:48 am
Pre-season games are hardly “worthless” to the dozens of other players to show what they can do at full-speed and the coaches who have to evaluate them and make cuts. There are more positions up for grabs than just the QB job.
The only “worthless” part of pre-season games is the W-L record. Of course as competitors coaches and players try for the W and some fans seem to think it matters, but getting through them with no or only minor injuries and a clear vision of what the 53-man roster will look like is a W.
You can only see so much in camp these days with all of the rules, etc. If PS games were played like the Pro Bowl (i.e. glorified flag football) then they’d be “worthless”.
If you ever hear a HC call PS games worthless, that’s when you need to start shopping for a new HC.
August 4th, 2023 at 7:59 am
Just curious…. How long did Aaron Rogers ride the pines backing up brett farve at Green Bay?
August 4th, 2023 at 8:22 am
You’ll find out more about this offense and QBs during the scrimmage against the Jets. The Jets have a legit top 5 defense. They have an elite secondary and pass rush. I want to see how our OL and QBs respond. Last year, we got punked by the Dolphins and Titans DL.
August 4th, 2023 at 8:46 am
Joe sounds angry, that his fantasy of Mayfield having a lock on the starters job is clearly not true, and never was true. Joe acts surprised that Trask practices better when he gets actual coaching from the OC and his assistants, and finally in his third season gets to practice with the first team.
What a shocker! NOT!!!!
Since we all know that there are two Joes at JBF and they have different perspectives, “this Joe” is clearly the angry Trask-hating Joe, probably congenitally so given his ‘Nole heritage.
I am neither a Gator nor a Nole, and no member of my family ever attended either school. I didn’t go to school in Florida at all, so I have no dog in the Nole-Gator fight. But one thing I have observed over the years, particularly with the runup to the 2015 Bucs draft, is that there is a fairly large contingent of deranged Noles who hate Gators with a burning passion … while most if not all Gators, while enjoy beating the Noles whenever they can, they are NOT consumed with Nole hate.
The rest of us just watch and scratch our heads and wonder “what is wrong with those people?”
August 4th, 2023 at 8:48 am
if its this close, bowles needs to ride with trask to start the season….we know what baker can do…and it aint much…
really all depends on the o-line/run game/defense….if those 3 things are solid, hell wofford could be the starter lol….
GO BUCS!!!!
August 4th, 2023 at 8:51 am
For all those mentioning number of picks. you should realize the count goes back to zero for each when preseason games start coming up. No one is going to say – this guy threw less picks in games but more in practice weeks ago so lets go with the other one.
The most realistic balanced outlook says you are going to see both Qbs play games this year regardless of who wins starter. baker likes to sling and initiate comebacks. frankly if the number one thing for a team isa QB not turning tha ball over then trask may well win the job (and Baker like last year chose the wrong team for his skill set) . The major problem with Carolina For baker was that was a dink and dunk controlled offense and slingers can’t adapt to that (plus short passes by physcics have alower trafectory for tips and bats).
however you can still lose a boatload of games with low intcerption rates and as any head coach on the hot seats knows – when all is said and done its the win loss record tah t kepps you in a job.
that all isaues Baker has will disappear this summer is fantasy land but its equally fantasy land that a guy that couldn’t even solidify second string is goign to light it up and be an incredible franchise qb in one season
get ready to see both during regular season. Especially if you are a Trask fan. It may save you from a stroke during the season.
August 4th, 2023 at 8:52 am
Joe I have a serious question. Your probably right in your article and Ive heard other people in the media say the same thing and it drives me nuts! What experience are people so enamored with? Mayfield led the league in turnovers for the past three years, he has a VERY talented team in Cleveland and they couldn’t wait to get rid of him, he sucked in Carolina, and the Rams didn’t even want him as a backup. Trask put up great numbers in college and I get sitting him when we had Brady but why the hell would we hold him back further for Mayfield? The more I read about him he sounds like Jameis 2.0! Why do we assume we will get more wins with a turnover machine than a guy who took care of the football in college and camp? I keep thinking of the Avengers when Lokey tried to tell Thanos he had experience on Earth and Thanos replied, “If you count failure as experience.” I just don’t get the logic here.
August 4th, 2023 at 8:57 am
“If you count failure as experience.” – Thanos
Keeps ringing in my head when people think Mayfield “Turnover machine” Mayfield should automatically start regardless of being outplayed in EVERY practice.
August 4th, 2023 at 9:03 am
I don’t believe for a second that Mayfield was brought in to start and ‘It was his job to lose’. Plenty of tape on Baker and at the very least he is a cheap backup.
Couldn’t just give QB1 to Trask or you would not get the maximum effort out of him.
It happens all the time that a guy gets picked high in the draft, comes in, thinks they are all that, and the team ends up with a scrub.
Jets learned that with Wilson. Panthers will learn it with Young.
Arron Rodgers, Phillip Rivers and Carson Palmer all sat their Rookie year and some longer than that after being drafted in the First Round, Later round guys include Brady and Trask.
No way am I comparing Trask to Brady. I am just saying should Trask start, Kyle and Jordan Love will fair a lot better than Young and Stroud.
August 4th, 2023 at 9:03 am
The rest of us just watch and scratch our heads and wonder “what is wrong with those people?”
The national championship saw the Gators overcome an earlier loss to FSU to win the title, taking down the No. 1 Noles 52-20.
Still burns to this day. Saint Bobby got throttled by the visor.
August 4th, 2023 at 9:04 am
@ duane
>>“this Joe” is clearly the angry Trask-hating Joe, probably congenitally so given his ‘Nole heritage.
Meh.. the proof that is not true is in the fact that as a Baker fan I more get the sense the joes are bandwagonning recently for trask after only two no contact good practice with him better than baker. That i can get that and you get the opposite indicates the bias might be our own rather than the Joes.
Frankly I think another phenomenum for many of you guys is – you had such low expectation for trask that if he even shows mid competence its like the second cominf of Christ to you. its kind of like a D math student gets a B+ so who knows? We now think he just might be the next Einstein. 🙂
August 4th, 2023 at 9:17 am
In five games with the Rams, Mayfield threw for 850 yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions. That’s 170 yards per game. With Carolina, he threw for 1313 yards (218 yards per game), 6 TDS and 6 interceptions and went 1-5. On top of that, he came to camp looking out of shape. I his interview yesterday could still see fat around his midsection. It appears as if he did not take this competition seriously. He probably thought “A second rounder that hasn’t played in two years? Man this is a cinch! They’re probably just calling it a competition to make him feel good”
Then, instead of practicing with the receivers to help him win the position, he chose to go the political route spending that time taking the linemen to dinner and to play golf.
All the while, Trask was in the laboratory planning to take over the world!
August 4th, 2023 at 9:18 am
@ greg the truth
> Mayfield led the league in turnovers for the past three years, he has a VERY talented team in Cleveland and they couldn’t wait to get rid of him,
I wont belabor this too much because this is a common lie that won’t go away even when raw facts says otherwise. anyone who actually followed the browns knows They begged baker to stay until watson did a 180 and decided to sign with them. Was Deshauan wantded over Baker? – yep but for anyone else? Nope.
August 4th, 2023 at 9:20 am
I’m surprised few have been talking about how closely our situation mirrors seattle last year: Baker – Lock, Trask – Geno it could offer perspective from a similar situation. after Canales has repeatedly referenced his similar process last year.
A guy “not writing back” slowly developing, working all offseason with the OC and staff under the radar…. A wayward high round draft pick with some charisma (remember the side line rapping horse ___ Lock) to come in and challenge the house QB. The house QB rising to the challenge and being surprisingly competent.
The end parts TBD obviously
August 4th, 2023 at 9:23 am
Short QBs that are dual threat, run and pass, don’t seem to have too much trouble with their lack of height. On the other hand, Mayfield seems to be struggling in the area. It is just me or does it seem like there are a ton of tip balls at the line of scrimmage.
August 4th, 2023 at 9:23 am
I’m genuinely surprised at so many people reading into this post by Joe. He’s been calling them Kyler Traskfield for months. I have no doubt the Bucs would prefer Baker to start but they’re not going force it if Kyle Trask is better.
August 4th, 2023 at 9:41 am
I bet they end up going with Baker even if Trask looks better. By time we get to the bye week it will be Trask starting.
August 4th, 2023 at 10:02 am
Since he has been in the league Mayfield has led the league in interceptions with 64 interceptions.
August 4th, 2023 at 10:03 am
The Bowles cleaner probably still thinks of Trask as a wasted second round pick. He is starting to look like the steal of that draft from here though.
Trask was not Tod’s pick, so Tod is going to have prejudice against him. He did pick Baker, so that puts Baker on a 4″ hill so he can look Trask in the eye.
Hot Toddie has a thing about “experience”. which is what Baker has above Trask; so I am in Joe’s camp on this Trask has to break the internet because of his good play to start game 1.
To me it might be better for Baker to start, especially in a controversial situation. If he blows it and Tod pulls him the bye week, he looks like a better coach, and I think he wants that perception more than an actual winning record.
August 4th, 2023 at 10:15 am
gotbbucs Says: “I would argue that going with Mayfield over Trask has the potential to make the seat under Bowles much hotter if the season doesn’t go well. With Trask, at least he’s developing.”
Absolutely. Joe is wrong on this. Going with Trask, a rookie de facto, is a developmental move and buys Bowles at least two years. Surely the Glazers know that Jalen Hurts did not show up until his third season with the Eagles. It would be a bad look for the Glazers to dump Bowles after only one season with Trask; it would be easier to dump Bowles after turning the season over to an undersized failed journeyman.
August 4th, 2023 at 10:17 am
ATLBuc Says: “Since he has been in the league Mayfield has led the league in interceptions with 64 interceptions.”
That’s startling especially since he has not been a starter all his time in the league. What would the number be if he had started every game?
August 4th, 2023 at 10:28 am
Duane Says: “Joe acts surprised that Trask practices better when he gets actual coaching from the OC and his assistants, and finally in his third season gets to practice with the first team.”
Bingo! Joe repeatedly ignores the fact confirmed by Jason Licht that Trask never practiced or played in preseason games with the first team. Joe likes to pretend Trask did because Joe once or twice saw Trask throw a pass to Mike Evans in practice. The only problem with that approach is that surrounding Trask with 9 scrubs + 1 Mike Evans does not a “first team” maketh.
August 4th, 2023 at 10:59 am
Interesting stats from statmuse: The lowest interception percentage among active NFL quarterbacks is 1.4%, by Aaron Rodgers. Baker Mayfield’s interception percentage is double that, at 2.8%, putting Baker at 36th out of 50 active quarterbacks. I’d 1000% go with Trask.
August 4th, 2023 at 11:11 am
Although I want Trask to be successful, I would like to remind everyone that every Trask Gator victory his senior year in 2020 was against teams with losing records-with exception of 1st game against Mississippi.
Against winning teams he was 0-3 and against LSU and Oklahoma he had 5 TD’s and 5 interceptions.
Yes, it was college, but training camp football is not an accurate predictor of future performance.
Mayfield has his issues as well, but he does have NFL playoff experience.
August 4th, 2023 at 11:27 am
Alanbucsfan Says: “Although I want Trask to be successful, I would like to remind everyone that every Trask Gator victory his senior year in 2020 was against teams with losing records-with exception of 1st game against Mississippi.”
BS. In addition to Mississippi, he trounced #5 ranked Georgia 44-28, which Florida had not beaten in years. And, each of the few Florida losses was due to Florida’s notoriously porous defense that season. Losing to Alabama in a wild 52-46 SEC Championship game shootout because Coach Dan Mullen messed up the clock and gave Alabama time to score another 7 points is on Trask? How many FSU jerseys do you have?
August 4th, 2023 at 11:39 am
Here are Kyles career stats in the mighty SEC playing teams like LSU GA ALABAMA
552 COMPLETIONS
813 ATTEMPTS
67.9 COMPLETION PERCENTAGE
7386 TOTAL YARDS1
69 TDS
15 INTS
168.5 PASSER RATING
So despite how the games turned out in regards to wins and losses, Trask performed at a high level facing tough competition. Mayfield on the other hand stacked stats in a powder puff league that he hasn’t been able to replicate in the NFL.
August 4th, 2023 at 3:36 pm
Mayfield goes 4 games, loses 3, throws 6 picks, gets the bye-week hook, asks for release, gets it. (Goes on to a stellar career calling ESPN Big 12 football.) Trask comes in, plays .500 ball the rest of the way, gets named ’24 starter since we’ll have a mid-level pick. Start of another mediocre two-decade run for us.
C’mon, guys, this is Tampa Bay, where we go two decades between championship contending teams (’79, ’99-’02, ’20-’21.) History tends to repeat itself. Our next shot will come around SB LXX to LXXV.
August 4th, 2023 at 10:29 pm
@nooyoker
>>That’s startling especially since he has not been a starter all his time in the league. What would the number be if he had started every game?
why woudl that be startling since he started 69 games so that works out to less than one interception a game
Josh Allen a bum since he threw only 4 less at 60?
ahem Tom brady waa abum because he threw only 2 less per year?
LOl you got hoodwinked by atlbuc. Thats why they say you can use stats to lie quite easily.